Motorcycle Blog on 2040Motos

Definition of a Motorcycle to Change in California

Several new laws have been passed in the California Legislature and ratified by Governor Schwarzenegger that will come into effect starting in 2009, one of which will pertain to motorcycles. The definition of a motorcycle has been expanded to include three-wheeled vehicles; they now have access to the high-occupancy lanes regardless of occupancy. The new designation will also delete the weight limitation and the separate definition of electric motorcycles to officially include them under the new motorcycle definition.

POW! 2009 Triumph Daytona 675 Wallpaper

In a recent Motorcycle.com Review, Tor Sagen took to Circuito de Cartagena [map] race-track on the 2009 Triumph Daytona 675. Photog’s Jason Critchell and Paul Barshon caught the action as Tor rocketed the machine around 3.506 km (2.179* Miles) of track. Luckily for us, some awesome shots were caught in the process.

Motorcycle Accident Leaves Cagefighter in Coma

WEC (World Extreme Cagefighter) bantamweight fighter Will Ribeiro was recently in a motorcycle accident that has left him in a comatose state in hospital in Rio De Janeiro according to WEC.tv. According to the report, Ribeiro was riding as a passenger on the motorcycle and was not wearing a helmet when the bike crashed on a slick road. “My assistant said that the doctor said for sure that [Ribeiro] has lost sight in one of his eyes,” Ribeiro’s manager, Ed Soares, told WEC.tv.

Motorcycle.com Weekly Community Round-up!

It’s that time again, folks. Here are a few things going on around the Motorcycle.com Forum Network: 2006 R6 Exhaust Picture thread! Wow, this thread has been going on since 2004!

Honda Electric Bike

Takeo Fukui’s speech this week was a bit on the gloomy side as the company adjusted its profit forecast by 67% in the wrong direction. Slumping auto sales and a sagging U.S. dollar were the main factors for Honda’s third profit forecast cut this year.

iPhone Moto Chaser Review

If you’ve got 99 cents burning a hole next to the iPhone in your pocket, the developers at Freeverse might have something for you to spend it on. Moto Chaser is a motorcycle game meant just for your iPhone or iPod Touch. It’s easy to find, just visit the App Store and search for ‘Moto Chaser’ and it will come right up.

Harley-Davidson Christmas Commercial

Every year it seems that newspaper advertisements, radio and TV commercials for Christmas start earlier and earlier. As soon as the sun begins to set on Halloween, department stores begin packing shelves and websites start stocking inventory in preparation for the impending feeding frenzy that will occur for the most commercial of holidays next to valentine’s day. While spending the holiday with family normally keeps me blitzed off eggnog and most of these aforementioned advertisements are enough to make me want to book a cruise for an entire fortnight at the end of December, this one commercial for Harley-Davidson made me laugh.

Valentino Rossi Shows Off His Face

Perhaps the most memorable helmet this season in MotoGP sat atop the head of the most memorable rider. Coincidence? The ‘Rossi Face’ helmet worn by Valentino Rossi at this year’s Mugello round is now for sale by AGV as a limited edition replica of the original helmet.

Motorcycle Taxi Business Booming in Thailand

According to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) there are more than 100,000 motorcycle taxis operating in Bangkok alone. The motorcycle taxi, or “Motorsai” as it is known in Thailand, started operating back in 1981 but was controlled by gangs for many years. According to a story that was published in September 2002, it was estimated that Bangkok gangs were extorting at least 100 million Baht or about 2.9 million USD per month from the motorcycle taxi operators.

POW! 2008 Vespa GTV 250ie

Scooter excitement hit an all-time high this summer as two and four wheeled commuters alike looked for an economical ride. Gas sipping scoots’ seemed quench the expensive petrol thirst for many forced to fend-off their rising budgets. Luckily for us, Steve Guzman was there to get the low-down on the scooter market.

Harley-Davidson Film Contest

Get the Flash Player to see this player. And the Grand Prize winner is… Victoria Sampson of Shadow Hills, CA. Harley-Davidson challenged U.S.

Motorcycle Trials Riding with a Freestyle Twist

An up-and-coming extreme sport or a reckless destructive tendency? There comes a time in every boys life when he is forced to grow up, leave the foolishness of childhood behind and fully grasp what it is to be a man. All that added responsibility is fine and good but being forced to get rid of the toys is too much!

“Moto-Terminator” Fetches $140,000

The second annual auction in Dubai for Cinema Against AIDS on Friday raised $1.8 million for the cause. An abundance of Hollywood stars made it out to support or chair the event, including, Goldie Hawn, Salma Hayek, Oliver Stone, Laura Linney and Sharon Stone, to name a few. The highest selling item of the night went to the “Terminator Salvation” premiere package which contained tickets to the premiere as well as the “Moto-Terminator” from the movie.

J.D Power Cites Dealers as Deterrent

According to J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Motorcycle Escaped Shopper Study, a significant portion of motorcycle buyers rejected certain brands due to dealer-related issues. This inaugural study, which analyzed the top reasons why shoppers considered a certain motorcycle brand, but ultimately choose to purchase another, found that 51 percent of new motorcycle buyers cited their reasons for leaving a dealership was the dealers themselves.

Bajaj Auto Owns 25% of KTM

In India, Bajaj Auto is a major player in two and three-wheeled vehicles. They originally purchased a 14.5 percent stake in KTM last year, which was increased to 20.9 percent earlier this year and has now officially reached 25 percent. The companies have been working together to develop high-efficiency bikes, sourcing for production and the assembling of KTM bikes in India for export to Europe under KTM branding.

Motorcycle.com Weekly Community Round-up!

Here are a few things going on around the Motorcycle.com Forum Network: Animated Engines plivez, a new member of the Ducati.ms forums (welcome Plivez!) has a website where he animates motorcycle engines in flash. It’s pretty interesting to see the way a Evo and Twin Cam V twin Harley Davidson engine works. He also has up the crazy BMW flat twin R100 motorcycle engine which seems more complicated then an engine should be!

Kawasaki Ninja 250 Rental for the Track

If you ever wanted to get some track time on a motorcycle you should know that its not as easy as you would imagine. Rent My Ninja can take care of all the details so you can get out there and have some fun, they will rent you a Ninja 250 that is setup for your weight (plus gear), give you riding class (Kevin, the owner has over 20 years of experience) and arrange the track time, all you need is approved riding gear and $250 (if you book it in advance) and your off to the races! The schedule is now set for 2009, starting in February and ending in September.

5 Awesome Motorcycle Gift Ideas for those Pesky Teenagers

Those darned teenagers and their troublesome ways could use some motorcycle-inspired gifts for the holidays. And although you may not understand the mind of a teenager, you can at least massage their brains a bit by imposing your motorcycle hobby onto them. Here are 5 awesome motorcycle gift ideas for pesky teenagers: Capcom’s MotoGP 08 Video Game Recommended Ages: Rated E for Everyone Who Has It: Anyone who sells video games should have it ( BestBuy for example ) How Much: $59.99 They’re not old enough yet to be speeding around a track at ridiculous speeds but at least they can pretend to be and MotoGP will put them in the riders seat.

Free Limited Edition Mug from Ducati!

How festive! Ducati North America wants to give you Ducati fans a limited edition cappuccino mug for all that hard work you do on your motorcycle. The mug is to celebrate their 2008 world championship win so I guess everyone is a winner!

Santa on a Can-Am Spyder

Everyone knows that the market for three and four wheeled motorcycles is fueled by aging motorcycle enthusiasts not wanting to let go of that feeling of being in the wind. Similarly, some voyagers in their aging years are opting to travel on the ground instead of taking to the skies. Santa is no different.

Get a Hayabusa Engine Into Your Car

Have you have ever wondered how to get a Hayabusa motor into a car? Well then all your questions have been answered (we will send for the doctor right away!). Hartley is a US engineering firm who has come up with the conversion kit to do just that, when fully dressed the engine will have a dry weight of 140lbs and can produce 175 to 250 hp or more if you throw in a turbo or two.

Off-Road Motorcycle and Free-Ride Bicycle Compared

What if anything do bicycles and motorcycles have in common? Besides the whole two-wheel thing, it isn’t outright apparent that these two “handle-barred beasts” share more than ancient ancestry. Modern Off-road motorcycle and Free-ride bicycle designs side-by-side illustrate how much technology the two have in common.

Batman’s Original Batcycle

Oh, that Batman and his toys, those marvelous toys. Millionaire Bruce Wayne’s alter ego has always had a penchant for accessories. While normally reserved for freeing him and boy wonder from intellectually challenged villains, he has also had his fair share of tricked-out transportation over the years.

POW! 2008 KTM RC8 1190 ‘the orange torpedo’

Red, Blue, Green & Black – these are motorcycle colors, right? Well, orange definitely needs to be considered a motorcycle color too. Full discretion first, I’ve a thing for KTM bikes.

Nationwide Insurance ‘Tis the Season Contest

When the holiday spirit strikes do you include your motorcycle or scooter in the merriment? Whether you decorate your tree while drinking Eggnog from your Harley-Davidson beer stein or get gussied up like old Saint Nick to ride your crotch rocket, Nationwide Insurance wants to know about it. Or maybe you have participated in a holiday themed ride or parade.

How to Wear a Motorcycle

What do you get when you cross a Harley with a fashion Supermodel? … A Softail !!! I have been told that many of the outfits we see on the runways are not meant for the average person to wear but more to showoff the designer’s creativity.

Dan Gurney’s Two-wheeled Terror at IMS

When the Gurney Alligator A6 made its debut in 2002, the world saw a glimpse of a new concept in sport motorcycles. Long, low, quick and efficient like its namesake, the ’Gator was like nothing we’d seen before. The bike was the brainchild of Dan Gurney, the legendary F1 and Le Mans winning driver and championship-winning sports car builder.

Electric Sportbike Debuts at NEC Show

Zero to 60mph in 3.5 seconds, top speed of 125 mph and a recharge time under two hours with a standard 13 amp power supply. Wait, what? Those are not typo my friends, they are the stats for the TTX01 electric sportbike unveiled at the 2008 NEC Bike Show in Birmingham.

Win a 2009 Can-Am Spyder!

BRP has a new contest ongoing (you may have seen the ads running on Motorcycle.com) to win a new 2009 Can-Am Spyder valued at $16,199. The contest is pretty simple and you are only required to answer four questions, and provide your personal information. The contest is only open to US residents.

Motorcycle.com Weekly Community Round-up!

Here are a few things going on around the Motorcycle.com Forum Network: GSXR fights back LOL alex70 of the Gixxer forums made an awesome find on MySpace TV. Ray, a “manly man” who sweats testosterone and probably Gatorade as well, tries to fight a speeding ticket. Ray is quite proud of the tickets he has received over the years as well as the Suzuki he rides.